Third Time's The Charm
by Klutzygirl33
Summary: Set several months after the series finale, "The Kids Are Alright". Brock and Barbra Jean's relationship is cracking and they're falling apart. This time, their marriage may not be salvageable.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own Reba and never will. No copyright infringement intended.

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It all starts falling apart again for Brock and Barbra Jean only two weeks after the birth of Van and Cheyenne's son. One minute they were fine, the next they were fighting over their plans for the weekend. The intensity surprised both of them, but they figured it was just one of their normal fights, neither one aware that their marriage is cracking little by little. The cracks had started to close just a little after their reconciliation, but all of that is now over with.

Brock and Barbra Jean got into it again only a few days later when visiting Van, Cheyenne, Elizabeth, and the newest Montgomery, Caleb. It was nothing major, but it still made Cheyenne and Van uncomfortable. Luckily, Elizabeth and Henry were playing upstairs and the baby slept through the fight. And the worst part was that they fought over what kind of salad they wanted for dinner. When it was over, Brock was confused as to why they even fought in the first place. He pushed it aside, however, because he didn't think it was that big of a deal in the long run. It was a mistake, but they didn't realize that yet.

"I thought we agreed that Henry wasn't allowed to go his friend's house after he didn't clean his room." It was a few weeks later, and Brock was sick of the arguing. He didn't know why he was starting this one, but he hoped it didn't last too long. He just wanted everything to go back to normal and for their marriage to be okay again.

"Yeah, well, he cleaned it up and I agreed to end his punishment." The truth was Barbra Jean had just wanted him out of the house in case they fought again, and now she was glad to have trusted her instincts. She didn't want her son to remember nothing but his parents fighting all the time.

"He still should have been grounded, not let off just because he finally did what we wanted him to." He glared at his wife, too incensed to remember that he didn't want to fight in the first place. He was sick of their different parenting styles and it was driving him up the wall that they never agreed on anything.

She rolled her eyes. "Henry said he was sorry and that's good in my book. Brock, what is your problem?" Barbra Jean understood why he had an issue with it, but she didn't care at the moment. She just hoped this didn't escalate like their previous fights.

"My problem is that you never listen to a damn word I say!" He needed to end this before he said something he regretted. Brock hated that this was their life now. Barbra Jean glared at him and then grabbed her keys. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going somewhere where you're not since I can't stand to talk to you now!" She left, slamming the door on the way out and then got in her car to go to Reba's. Barbra Jean knew that her best friend would be able to calm her down – It had always worked. That's why she valued their friendship so much, even though it had taken years for them to get to this point.

Reba was sitting on the couch and reading a book when Barbra Jean walked in. "What are you doing here?" As much as she liked that Barbra Jean was her best friend now, she still hated that she just waltzed into the house at random times of the day.

"Brock and I got into another argument and I couldn't take it anymore. So here I am." She shrugged and sat down on the couch next to Reba. She wasn't sure how much longer she and Brock would be able to deal with all this arguing. Barbra Jean wasn't sure when it had started up again, but she just wanted the fighting to end. She wanted everything to go back to normal in their marriage. And she wasn't about to bring up having another baby, especially after the fiasco a few years earlier. And that just made Barbra Jean remember their first separation, something she really didn't want to think about.

"Barbra Jean, why are you two fighting so much again?" Reba was confused because she thought that Brock and Barbra Jean were fine and more in love than ever now. She figured that the last separation had finally knocked some sense into them.

"I have no clue. But I do know that I want to fix this. And today, it was over something stupid – I ended Henry's punishment when he did what I asked him to. Brock didn't think that I should have done that."

"Go home and have a talk with your husband. You two can't keep doing this." Reba had a feeling that this was just another one of their stupid arguments and it would blow over in the next few days. Like Brock and Barbra Jean, she was wrong about that. But she wouldn't realize what the signs were until months later, much like everyone else.

"You're right. Sorry to have bothered you with our problems again." Barbra Jean laughed.

"It's not like you haven't done it before." Reba shrugged. She watched as her friend got up and left the house.

When Barbra Jean got back home, Brock was sitting in front of the television and eating leftovers, which just made her angry again. She had taken some meat out of the freezer for dinner and now her husband was ruining his appetite. "What the hell are you doing?"

He looked up at his wife, confused. "Eating? What's the problem here?"

"The problem is that I was going to make dinner and now you won't be able to eat it because you already did!"

"But I was hungry so I figured it was okay to eat something. When are you making dinner? I'll be able to eat it."

"Forget about it now, Brock. I'll just take out some hot dogs and macaroni and cheese for Henry. Don't you worry about a thing." She returned to the kitchen and put the meat back in the fridge, then grabbed the hot dogs from the freezer.

The fights continued to worsen until one night about three months later. Brock and Barbra Jean had been fighting for four months straight at that point, and they finally hit the point of no return. After Brock got fed up of his wife never listening to him about anything and she jokingly – but with intent – threw a pillow at them – they finally broke. Both sat down at the kitchen table and knew that something had changed.

"We can't keep doing this, Barbra Jean." Brock didn't like seeing his son upset because of the fighting no matter how much they tried to shield him from it. He was so unhappy and he was sick of it.

"You're right. So this is it, right? We're over now." Barbra Jean sniffled and tried to hold back the tears. Although she knew that divorce was the best course of action, she was still upset. But Brock was right – They couldn't keep fighting like this. It had gone on long enough, to the point where she had stopped running to see Reba every time she couldn't take it anymore. She was sick of dragging her friend into their arguments, and it definitely wasn't fair to any of them.

"Yeah, this is it." Brock couldn't believe they had finally reached this point. They had come close twice before, but now it seemed different. And unlike last time, he didn't think they'd get back together. Too much had happened recently for that to even be an option.

"Don't worry, I'll go back to my maiden name. I know you aren't just handing your last name out." Barbra Jean had to find humor in the situation somehow or else she'd fall apart right there. And she honestly didn't want that.

Even though he really didn't want to, Brock laughed. "Yeah, okay. What are we going to do about Henry?" He hoped his son wasn't too traumatized by what was about to happen, although he had been understanding last time.

"Well, we'll tell him that Mommy and Daddy love him very much, but we can't be together anymore. And that he'll get to see you whenever he wants. Or we'll work something out with the custody arrangements. I won't keep him from you." Barbra Jean wanted the transition to be smooth for their son so it didn't cause him too much stress.

"We should go tell Reba." Brock figured that his ex-wife (Soon he'd have two and that was honestly not something he had ever expected to say.) would want to know and she deserved the truth anyway. She was both his and Barbra Jean's best friend.

"We should! I'll contact my lawyer tomorrow and file for divorce. I can't believe this is really happening. I mean, we've come close so many times, but this is it. No taking this one back."

"It's the best thing for all of us." Brock looked at her and smiled. When they stood up, Barbra Jean hugged him for a few minutes and then went out to the car. He followed her a few seconds later, and they drove over to Reba's house.

When the door opened, and her ex-husband and best friend stepped through, Reba noticed the looks on their faces and suddenly had a bad feeling. "What's wrong?"

Barbra Jean didn't answer and just headed to the couch, where she sat down. Brock sat down on the edge of a chair and sighed. "Barbra Jean and I have decided to get a divorce."

Reba just stared at them. "I'm having a little bit of déjà vu here. Didn't we just go through this?" She waited expectantly for their answer.

"Yes we did. But this time, it's really over. You know how you told me that if a marriage can be saved, it should be? Brock and I are past that point now. We've been fighting non-stop for months, and now our marriage can't be saved. It's too late for that. But I'm okay with that." Her tears betrayed her, but Barbra Jean didn't care. She surreptitiously wiped them off and hoped neither of them noticed she was crying.

"She's right. I just want to be happy again and that can't happen anymore, not when we're fighting so much. We were just kidding ourselves when we stopped the divorce last time."

Barbra Jean nodded. "He's right, too. We weren't ready to let our marriage go then, but we are now." She was still young and would find someone else to be happy with eventually. And the cheating and the problems that had plagued their relationship from the start wouldn't be there with another man. She'd move on eventually.

"You two mo-rons need to go see a marriage counselor before you rush into a decision like this. You two love each other!" Reba couldn't believe she was helping to try and save their marriage again, but they had always come to her with their problems anyway.

"Let's not kid ourselves, Reba. Sometimes, love isn't enough." Brock shrugged. He wished that love could be enough, but it couldn't save their relationship. They had gone through so much and had so many issues in seven years that their marriage had finally collapsed under the weight of it all. And it was unfixable. A marriage counselor wouldn't be able to help them now.

"The only reason we got married in the first place was because of Henry. Now, we both love that little boy, but our relationship would have ended sooner or later if I hadn't gotten pregnant." Barbra Jean couldn't believe she was finally able to admit that to herself.

"What are you saying?" Reba was a little bit in shock and she had to make sure that Barbra Jean was saying what she thought she was.

"I'm saying that I was just Brock's mid-life crisis. You two would have worked your problems out eventually and I'd have just been a roadblock. But that's okay. We're going to be fine." She shrugged and continued to cry, thanking Reba when her friend handed her some tissues.

"I felt like I had to own up to my mistake when Barbra Jean got pregnant and marrying her was what I had to do. I love her, but we fell out of love a long time." Brock felt relieved to have finally said those words out loud.

"We probably didn't even fall in love until after I found out about my pregnancy and we got engaged." Barbra Jean still felt guilty for the way that everything had transpired in the destruction of Brock and Reba's marriage. She'd continuously apologize to her for that and try to make it up to her best friend in any way she could.

Reba gasped and just watched the two of them in shock. She didn't think they would ever recover from this, and maybe they were right. Maybe Brock and Barbra Jean were better off apart. "It sounds like you two have thought this through."

"We have. It's the best situation for everybody." He didn't relish having to tell his children, but at least they were old enough to understand. Maybe he'd find somebody that he could truly be happy with, and he wished the same for Barbra Jean.

After eating dinner with Reba and Jake, Brock and Barbra Jean headed back home. The next day, she filed for divorce and made plans to move out of the house. They didn't even fight over money or anything else important that had been a problem for them for the past seven years. Going their separate ways actually felt good to the former couple. It was better for them to be friends than husband and wife. Brock and Barbra Jean were confident they had made the right decision, and it was if a burden had been lifted from their shoulders.

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**Author's Note**: CMT has been airing the last season in repeats this week, and it just made me angry again about how Brock and Barbra Jean reunited after their marriage was plagued by problems. This is my headcanon for what happened after the series finale. I hope you enjoyed!


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